


We can solve mysteries together

by Asaliz



Category: Layton Kyouju Series | Professor Layton Series
Genre: F/M, Original Character(s), Tags to be added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-30
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2020-03-29 20:57:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19027786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asaliz/pseuds/Asaliz
Summary: Marina finds another mystery fan like her, and invites him to solve a small case with her.It would be the first of many.





	1. Encounter on a Windy Day

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write a Marina/Luke story.  
> This first chapter is just a simple idea of how they met.  
> (Also lazy tittle.)

It was early, I already found the house.

  _But going too early would be as rude as going too late..._

 I was a little excited and a little nervous.

A friend from a friend recommended me to this family to solve a small mystery. I am in no way an expert, but I have gained a sort of reputation between the people I know.

 But again, it was way too early for my meeting, so I am taking a walk around. There is a park, and benches to admire the river. It could be a nice picture for a postal. If I had a camera, I would send a photo to my mom.

  _Perhaps I should take a sit there and read the book I brought while I wait._

 "Oh, no!"

 The gentle breeze suddenly turned into a strong wind, my white cap was blown away. I try, vainly, to catch it. But it escapes from my fingertips when I barely.

In just an instant it was so far away from me, I already considered it lost.

_I liked that cap._ I think a little childishly. It was new, but still.

It was about to fell in the river, but someone managed to catch it, after a few tries, just before it could fell into the water, where it would have been unreachable. (I wouldn’t have cared to swim if I didn`t have an appointment)

_Thank you very much, kind stranger._  
  
It was someone around my age... I think I have seen him before... And I think he was wearing the same blue clothes and hat too.  
He came into my direction, while I walked towards him.  
  
"Thank you! I was sure I lost it!" I told him while he handed me the cap.  
He was holding his own blue hat so the wind couldn't blow it.  
  
"No problem. After all, it's a gentleman`s duty to help a lady in need." He was foreign, for his slight accent. I assume he moved some time ago.  
  
"That sounds really old fashioned..." I answered chuckling. His cheeks turned a  
little red, "Sorry, I didn't want to embarrass you...Um... I think I have seen you before?"

I don’t know why he blushes a little again before answering.

"Yes, I think we have met before." He also makes a small and quick affirmative gesture, "But I don't think we have introduced ourselves. I'm Luke Triton." He extended his hand to shake mine, I found that charming.  
  
"Marina." I extend my hand too, "I remember now! I saw you around when I was looking clues for the case of the missing gargoyles!”  
  
"Yes, I remember now! Though the local police solved it too, it was not a difficult case."

 “And I think they didn’t like having amateurs around…

Are you another fan of mysteries?" I ask a little hopeful; my friends don't care too much about that.

 "You could say that.

Every puzzle has an answer." He finishes, as if he is quoting someone.  
  
We kept chatting while we looked for a less windy place.

We finally decide to enter a Cafe, and shared some stories. We both like to solve small mysteries during our vacations (because you can't have too much time for it with exams...)

He seemed to have solved puzzles and mysteries with his mentor since he was young.

He even remembers a puzzle to tell me related with the cake I'm eating.

 “What brings you here?”

 "I was just visiting a small museum."

 It was a good opportunity to make a new friend. I don`t doubt too much, and decide to ask him if he wants to come with me.

 "You know… A friend of mine has asked me to help an acquaintance with a small mystery.

What do you say if we work together to solve it?"

"That sounds great. I would love to."

 "I will tell you the details I know."

 

...

  
That was our first case together.


	2. Bronze, Cats, Cardboard Boxes and a Missing Ring

We walk towards the house. It is less windy now, but we both hold our hats just in case, and while we walk I tell him a mutual friend recommended me for this, it seemed there was some family discussion some time ago, and a jewel disappeared.

 

"It sounds long ago, why does she think the ring is still around?" He asks me.

 

"I think she inherited the house we are heading to from her uncle, not long ago, and if I heard correctly, he asked her to find the ring to return it to someone if he passed away. Her nephew is not in good terms with the family either, but I think she wants to return the ring to someone."

 

"Do you know anything else?"

 

"Not really, I was going to ask for more details once I was there. I wonder why he couldn’t just return the ring himself."

 

We are already there when I finish that sentence. The house is very similar to the others in this same street, but little bronze figurines are here and there over the wall. A metal tree was surrounded by immobile birds, butterflies and bees (but it seems they could fly away at any moment). Two lizards hold with their tails and fingers the characters with elegant calligraphy in a plaque indicating the street name and number. The fence and windows have beautiful twists and metal leaves.

 

When I ring the bell, I see a grey cat spying us through the window with curious eyes, until someone opens the door to greet us.

 

"Hello, what can I do for you?" asks a woman with round face, short curly hair, wearing jeans and a purple turtleneck sweater.

 

"I am Marina... My friend Cyril told you about me? You need help with a missing item?" I was sure this was the house, but for some reason I got nervous anyway. “You must be Tina.”

 

"Oh, no, Tina had to finish some paperwork, but she told me you would come.

I'm Sally. Please come in." She opens the door inviting us inside, while we pass next to her, I notice she is shorter than us, "How rude of me, what's your name, dear?" She asks Luke while we walk inside, making me feel a little guilty for completely forgetting to introduce him.

 

"Luke Triton. Please to meet you..."

 

"Oh, just call me Sally, honey, you don't need be formal. Sorry about the mess, we moved here recently."

 

_I wouldn't have called this a mess_ , the place has cardboard boxes of various sizes around, but they are so well organized they don't bother us for passing.

"Do you want to drink something? Coffe? Tea?"

 

"No, thank you. We came early, and drink something on small place around here."

 

She asks us to take a seat, and we make ourselves comfortable on a sofa, while she sits in front of us in another one, a big black and white cat  jumps into her lap the moment she sits.

 

"Tina asked me to tell you the details."

 

"So...um...sorry for asking, but my friend Cyril told me there was a sort of family problem around this missing ring?"

 

"Yes, Tina's uncle had a bad relationship with the rest of the family...

I don't really know why, neither does her, we didn't want to pry...but it seems he made them believe the ring was stolen during a party, were they were showing some valuable jewels the family owned..."

 

"It disappeared during the party?"

 

"Yes, it seems he managed to take it, even if he was not around."

 

"So he stole it from his family on the first place?"

 

"I think so…It didn’t belong to his family, they were just showing it."

 

"Did he told any of you if the disappeared one...was a fake? Perhaps he somehow destroyed a copy and never gave them the real one?"

 

"Maybe? We don't know. But he said it was here, in the house. And I think he didn’t take the ring there, the owner did it."

 

_Maybe I just read too many detective novels._

 

“Have you asked any other family member about it?”

 

“Unfortunately, Tina doesn’t talk with the rest of her family either; she lived with her uncle since she was fifteen.”

 

“Then… did her uncle leave you any kind of clue?"

 

"Not much (at least for us...), Tina and I found this, it's a note for a friend of him, the one who owned the ring." She handed us a handwritten paper.

 

The writing was elegant but it was written hurriedly, on a paper that was a little yellow for the pass of time.

 

**My dear friend, I know you are meant to keep the ring.**

**However, my father wished to acquire it, and given the reasons we both know, he will obtain it even if you refuse.**

**I suspect he will never return it after the party; you have to take it to them in the small case I gave you.**

**Don't forget this.**

 

“…even if you refuse?” I murmur reading the line again.

 

“Both Tina and her uncle described him as a violent person…

I even heard him saying once he was a good friend with a successful lawyer, who helped him to press people sometimes… And liked to collect unusual objects or art pieces.

He died some years ago.”

 

“Was the ring valuable, then? Did he fear he would add it to this collection?”

 

“I think it was not particularly expensive or anything.”

 

The second note was written in black pen.

 

**I will keep the ring is hidden for the moment; they think it was stolen, and won’t bother us about it. He suspects of the same person everybody else does, but this person is, as we know, untouchable.**

**I wanted to give it to you, but I understand it’s complicated at the moment.**

**It will stay at my home while we wait, until is safe for it to see the light again.**

 

_I don’t know why notes from someone else were here, perhaps someone gave them back?_

 

"Oh, also we found the photos of the exposition. Here" She put over the small table some black and white pictures, and a page from and old newspaper, explaining briefly the events.

 

We take a moment to read it, but it doesn't say much. The ring was inside a little box, and the article describes the other jewels exposed, they seemed very valuable: with precious stones, of gold and silver. The ring had what seemed and abstract pattern with small squares, and was made of stainless still. It was elegant, but very modest compared to the other things.

 

"Nothing else disappeared?" He asks, thinking probably too the ring was the odd item there.

 

"No, just the ring. It was weird, but I think the police wasn’t very interested on such an inexpensive ring, and Tina’s grandfather wasn’t very cooperative, according to Edward (her uncle.) "

 

We read the notes again, trying to think about the events described: people could watch the items, but from a distance, and a glass separated them. No one entered the room alone, but between four o’clock and ten pass four, while everyone was reunited in the next room hearing a brief speech, the ring simply vanished.

 

I look at the last photo, the quality is bad, and it isn’t possible to see any details.

 

 "What about the case? It's here?"

 

“Yes, the notes say something about a box. Perhaps we can find a clue.”

 

She looks at the photos again "I think it is...Wait a second." When she gets up holding the cat, he complains, when left on the sofa, alone.

Luke chuckles and gets closer to the cat to pet his head. It was a friendly one, he purrs and meows back to him when he mimics his sound.

 

"So he is your mum to you, Pepper?"

 

I chuckle, I always found cute when people talked with pets. I didn't pay attention, _when did she told us the name of her cat?_

 

She comes back with a small cardboard box, and leaves it over the table "Here... One of these should be that one. He made them."

There are five little boxes of similar size and shape, they have different colors, but the photos are not of color, so that won’t be of help.

 

"Did he also made all the decorations and figurines in the house himself?" I ask curious.

 

"Not all of them, but many, some with the help of her wife, who was a watchmaker and made some mechanism for toys. Some are from colleagues of him." She pointed some figurines over a small table. "You can look around anywhere you want. We didn't want to move things before finding the ring."

 

"Okay, we'll start right now."

 

"Sure, tell me if you need anything, sweetie. I will be in the kitchen.

All the doors are open. There is a backyard with more statues, and the house is full of toys and other things."

 

"Sure, leave it to us."

 

We examine the small boxes carefully.

 

One of them has something written inside. I read it aloud for Luke, who now has the cat on his lap.

 

**A simple box to accompany a simple ring.**

 

"Not much, but this one seems to be the one."

 

_But it could also be for any ring…_

 

 I examine the little box a bit more. Between the textured lines there seems to be something, I’m not sure if they are symbols.

_A magnifying glass would be of help._

Luckily, I see one on a shelf.

I pause a moment before reading what was written:

 

"4-1-32-20-7--11. Do the other boxes have a series number?”

 

“Mmm…No, they don’t.”

 

“ Do you think it's a code?" I ask him while I pass him the box.

 

"The way they are separated makes me thinks that..."

 

"I will write it on a paper."

 

It would be easier to mark anything on a paper. We read it again.

 

"Let's try with the easiest one... let's count the letters an mark them."

 

"Four is…M... One is A..."

"G...N...E..."

"T"

 

"Magnet?"

 

"Let's ask Sally if she has a magnet."

 

She tells us she has some on the fridge. We take the strongest one we can find.

 

"Where do you think we should try?"

 

"Perhaps where the ring was?"

 

I put the magnet inside the box and move it a little.

Nothing.

I try in different places. When I touch the base from the outside I hear a click.

I look inside: the bottom of the case transformed into a roll, hiding the real bottom.

 

"Wow, it doesn't look as if it could be something from the outside."

 The horizontal pattern makes it look shorter and wider.

 

There is a folded note inside, under it there is a mechanism, some kind of lock, and some parts could be from a clock. Also, there is an empty space; the ring could have been here. Of course it wasn’t going to be so easy.

 

"So this mechanism hid the ring? What activated it?"

 

"Perhaps some kind of timer"

 

**What do you need to make a bronze statue?**

**How it's done?**

 

Said the piece of paper. A clue.

 

"This is like a treasure hunt." I say excited, and I think he is too.

 

He reads the paper again, "Mmm... fire? A mold? I actually don't know too much about art or sculpture."

 

"Neither I do…Maybe there is a book somewhere."

 

"We could see around to know where things are, in case there is another clue."

 

We take a walk around the house, small sculptures and toys, made of tin, bronze and wood watches us from the furniture. Some pictures with a man, who’s always with messy hair, smiles from inside the frames, _I guess is the uncle, and that must be his wife_ a woman accompanies him on several ones.

 

"Look at this map!"

 

"Wow, it's beautiful!"

 

On a wall is planisphere done with two different metals, golden-ish for the land, silver for the waters, with little inscriptions naming the continents and oceans, and very thin lines for the parallels and meridians.

 

Another room has a solar system, different metals with different textures made the planets: bronze, copper, silver moons and, in the center, a golden sun.

 

“I found a puzzle!”

Not what we were looking for, but we both get distracted solving it.

 

There is a periodic chart of elements. Every square seems to be a different piece, elements organized in seven lines and thirty one columns, they have different colors per area, and the last column, numbered eighteen, is golden and shiny.

 

We go to the backyard, were an elegant striped cat looks us with pride from above, comfortably laying on a branch. It must be from a neighbor house, Sally told us they wouldn’t allow the cats to go out until they were used to the house.

 

In the middle there are four medium sized sculptures, and unlike the others in the house, these ones are cartoonier: a cockatoo with sunglasses sunbathing, its head resting on a suitcase, it has small tags with names of cities, like São Paulo, Montevideo… Next to it, an armadillo was resting over a pile of different leaves, then a penguin with a scarf and a wool cap, and, at last, a kind of fox holding a flower bouquet with his muzzle, some flowers had fallen. All of them were over a triangular shaped base, and a small sphere is over every vertex, the penguin is missing one. The triangles overlap a little.

 

We finally find a library, and spend some time looking at the books, we read about art, sculpture, foundries, jewelry... But really don’t know where to look.

We ask Sally where he made the statues, it was a place outside the residential zone, but if we wanted to go there, we would have to wait until later when Tina came back, because she had the car (and if it were here, she didn't know to drive.)

 

"But he said it was on this house, right?"

 

While we talk, Sally moves a little chair to reach something from a high cupboard, and Luke offers to help her.

 

"Here you have."

 

"Thank you sweetie, I won’t be able to make a chocolate cake without the chocolate. I always need a chair to reach the higher places."

 

We both look at each other, and I know he had the same thought:

_To make a bronze statue...you need bronze!_

 

We are on the library again.

"It sounds too obvious... Are we sure that’s the answer?"

 

"Perhaps the clues are meant to be easier for a jeweler or artist, or his colleagues who knew him."

 

"It could be... Do you have any idea how bronze is done?"

 

"No... Let’s take another look on the books."

 

We take a while to read the books.

 

Finally I have luck with a dictionary, "Here! I found something! Bronze is an alloy made primarily with copper and tin in different proportions, but it can have small additions of other metals. What can we do with this?"

 

"We could try with that periodic chart on the other room?"

 

“It’s a good idea.”

 

We go there with some books and the dictionary, and place ourselves in front of it.

 

"The names are in Latin! Let's see... _cuprum_? This one must be copper..." I hesitate for an instant and press the one with the symbol Cu on it.

It's a button!

 

"I can't find tin..."

 

We don't want to press them randomly in case something breaks, so we spend some more looking at the books.

 

" _stannum_ , symbol Sn."

 

"I couldn't have guessed that one." He says while pressing it. We hear something moving, and small group separates together, forming a small door. Inside the wall there is a metallic sphere, with the size of a golf ball. It must have something inside, in sounds like a sleigh bell.

 

"Another clue?"

 

We take it, along with another little note, but we left it for later, Sally invites us to take a break, she has prepared lunch for us.

 

I haven’t noticed how hungry I was until I have the food in front of me (It smells delicious)

We chat for a little while we eat; Luke asks Sally about the museum, because some pieces were stolen time ago, and now they only have the photos, though she doesn’t know more than him about it, people suspected someone from the museum sell them in secret when they were on restoration, but the suspect was a diplomat, and no one wanted to accuse him.

We tell her about our progress in the search, she is confused of why would he do something so complicated to hide the ring. She’s got a point: if the box had got lost, we wouldn’t have the first clue.

Sally asks us if we are studying, Luke and I are surprised to learn we go to the same university, so we might see each other more often.

On the other hand, she tells us she will start to work next week on the cafe we have been at.

 

When we finish (the chocolate cake is delicious too) we offer to help her with the dishes, but she refuses. So we go back to the note and the metal ball.

 

“The sphere says December.”

 

“And the note says: Complete the year.”

 

“This one is easy; this sphere must be the one the penguin is missing. Let’s see the statues, they must represent the seasons.”

 

We go back to the backyard. Luke puts the sphere on the empty vertex, it accommodates automatically, the part with the month faces down, I can guess it has a magnet. We just hear the metallic sound when the sphere touches the base, but we wait…

And nothing happens.

 

“Do you think it’s broken?”

 

I look at the statues. I take another sphere, from the fox, in says June. “Let’s see if they are all in order.”

 

We look all the spheres, the magnets have different strength, and some are difficult to take.

 

“They seem to be in order… I mean: this one must be winter, with December, January…”

 

We take another look in case we didn’t see well.

 

“Perhaps that solar system inside has something to do with this too?”

 

“We can go inside and see.”

 

We go there, but after moving the planets and moons, we cannot find anything of interest.

We look at the calendars.

We look at the books.

While we search we pass in front of the room with the planisphere.

I stop and got close to it.

 

 “Look! They were disorganized on purpose.” I point something in the map.

 

“São Paulo, Brazil… Of course! If it represents the south hemisphere, we have to put the months on different seasons!”

 

We go back to the backyard, and start rearranging the spheres…

 

“Then December goes on summer… that’s with the cockatoo.” I find the statue really funny, the bird looks so relaxed.

 

“I wonder what’s like to have Christmas in summer? Then January goes there too…”

 

We finish rearranging them, and when we put the last one, we hear a series of sounds, very similar to locks being open. Finally, the armadillo moves showing a small box.

 

“Another clue?”

 

We took the box; seeing it more carefully, it’s more like a small chest, made of metal. The cover is formed by small squares, with elegant symbols on them: some are moons, others stars and suns, only one is empty. The base is flat smooth, and has an inscription:

 

**To open me trust the ones with their own bright, but hide the thieves**.

 

“A riddle? Let’s see… we have stars and moons drawn all over the chest. All of them look bright.”

 

“But only stars produce their own light.”

 

“…the thieves… Then it must be the moons, they just reflect the light.”

 

The empty square can be removed, allowing us to slide the pieces; they can be taken from that spot. We finally manage to remove one with a moon, when it falls we see the other face has a star. The next pieces are easier to take. Then we put them again, with the drawings of suns and stars looking up. We hear a click, and the chest opens.

 

Inside we see the ring, with a note.

 

**Make the key and take it to the keyhole.**

**You will find what has been hidden, but could have been lost.**

 

“Here is the ring. What does it mean make the key?”

 

Luke takes the ring and examines it. He tries moving the little squares, and they do! He moves them a few times, until they seem to form a small figure.

 

“I think I have seen this symbol before.”

 

“I’t does’t seem familiar to me…Maybe we should ask them, the note says is the key for something.”

 

Sally comes to tell us dinner is almost ready, then Tina arrives, we hear her greeting from the entrance, and Sally goes there to greet her too. A few moments later, a thin, tall woman with long black hair and dark eyes enters the kitchen. She wears a shirt with a jacket; its blue color combines with the eyeshadow. But her features resemble slightly the man from the photos.

Sally has told her we found the ring, and she thanks us after saying hello.

 

“I can’t believe that he used the case to make the ring disappear on the first place! Even If I have been surrounded by this toys since I was young.

I will take the ring to the museum after the dinner, as my uncle wanted to do. I still don’t know why, but I guess someone would know.

 Do you two want to come along? I think there is something more about this.”

 

“Of course! We won’t miss the ending of this.”

 

Tina drives us there after dinner. The museum is still open; Tina asks to speak with someone.

 

“Hello, you wished to speak with me?” An old man asks. “Oh, you are Tina, Edward’s nephew. I haven’t seen you in ages! How are you doing?  Did you move to take care of his house?”

 

“I’m fine, thank you. We just moved to the house. Actually, I came because my uncle left this ring hidden on the house, and wanted me to left it here. We needed help to find it, though.” She looked at us.

 

“Ah! I remember he once told me someday he would give me a key… I don’t know what he meant, could it be this?”

 

“I think the ring is the key.”

 

“You came here early today, didn’t you, boy?”

 

“Yes, I was here.” Luke asks permission to take the ring again, and moves the pieces until it form the symbol again. “I knew this was familiar, it’s the symbol of the museum!”

 

“Any Idea where it might go?”

 

“Her uncle donated a statue once, and a friend of him installed it when some reparations were done.”

 

The ring fitted perfectly inside the book the statue was holding. When the it was placed there, we hear some metallic noises and the statue broke into pieces. Inside of it there were little packages and a note.

 

**We apologize to have this hidden here without telling to anyone, but after other pieces were stolen, we suspect someone here was helping with the robbery; we hid them here until the suspect was not around.**

**Hopefully no one else would try to steal them now that you have them back.**

 

“I can’t believe these ones could be saved! We were sure they were gone for good!”

 

He called more people, and soon the employees from the museum took them carefully.

They explained us a curator will see them, as a standard procedure, but he was sure they were the ones.

Tina was surprised he wasn’t at least annoyed to learn they have always been there, but the oldest employees explained us the diplomat everyone suspected about  died recently, and would probably keep trying to obtain them if he was still alive (“But you never heard that from me! Those are just rumors and no one wanted to go after a diplomat!”), and they were sure he had stolen pieces from other places too.

 

Luke was excited to see the real treasures.

 

“But why did he hide the ring?”

 

“I think he planned to leave the ring here in the first place, but it seems his father somehow suspected it had something to do with the items, and wanted to sell them himself. After all, he had a very good lawyer…”

 

It was late when we finished, so Tina and Sally offered us to stay at their home, the house had tree rooms, so they prepare two for us.

 

In the morning of the next day we say good bye to them, but Luke and I promised to see each other again.

 

\---------------

 

I still have the article from a newspaper as a memento of that first case. It was not a big deal, but it started giving us a moderate fame and leaded us to more complicated cases.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.  
> It took me more than I pretended to finish it.  
> In the end it was more like a treasure hunt than a mystery, perhaps it goes a little fast.  
> I hope you enjoyed it anyway.  
> I don’t have a schedule for this story; hopefully I will post something soon.


	3. An old house with some secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone asks Luke and Marina to find his son, who disappeared after entering a haunted house.

We have been seeing each other more often, and Luke had been telling me a lot of fantastic stories about his adventures.

 

I guess after that no one would want to stop looking for mysteries.

 

This time it wasn't exactly a mystery, but more like a favor for an acquaintance, who called with certain urgency, and Luke is now telling me about it.

 

"I think I have heard about that place, people say is a haunted house." I add after listening to him, while we walked for our destination, a house next to the abandoned one.

 

"Oh really? What have you heard? I didn't know you were interested in ghost stories."

 

"Well, sometimes urban legends start with something real but curious.

Let’s see... it was the first house built in the area, so there weren't neighbor houses for years...

But the owner never lived there, I think. There are different versions of the story, some say he died when visited the finished house for the first time and his spirit makes people to get lost inside...others say he was murdered and people die inside... thought there are no reports of death people, someone probably tried to make it scarier."

 

"Perhaps we can get the real version." When he talks I can see this excitement that is always on his eyes when he speaks of puzzles and mysteries. _Do I look like that too?_ I smile before answering.

 

"Yeah, it could be. Maybe there is something interesting about the place after all. Anyway, do they think someone disappeared inside the old house?"

 

"Well, the new owner of the property is convinced his son dissapeared there with two friends yesterday, and he wanted someone to investigate."  
  
"Someone you know?"  
  
"I have seen his sister a couple of times, Ashley Lockhart; she is an archeologist who has worked with my father, so he has heard about us through her..."  
  
"Yeah... my mother likes to talk about me too..." We both blush slightly but also chuckle "I assume he looked inside the house by himself?"  
  
"Yes, he and the other kid's parents, but the house seemed normal, other than being dusty. But they saw their footprints on the dust... and he is kind of desperate, the police didn't take seriously when they told them they thought the children could still be inside the house and they are looking around the neighborhood."  
  
"So he is convinced they are inside the house...Does he think they are hiding? Or lost? I assume they weren't supposed to go there."  
  
"I think something like that happened...It was some sort of bet, given the reputation of the house." He says thoughtfully.  
  
"I entered a supposed haunted house with some friends when I was little... but it was just an old humid house, and the wind made a howling sound when passing through some cracks, that's why the other kids said there were ghosts."  
  
"Was it fun at least?"  
  
"It was fun to explore the house, I mean, there is a certain atmosphere in abandoned places that makes them appealing… but we were grounded for a week." I say with nostalgia, "I thought it was unfair then, but the second floor was practically hanging... it was a miracle we didn't fall."  
  
"I did some dangerous stuff as a kid too...How old were you?"  
  
"Mmm...Around ten? I'm not sure."  
  
"I think the missing kids are around that age… Their parents are worried sick."  
  
"How much time passed?"  
  
"It was just the yesterday, but their parents don't want to wait."  
  
"That's okay. Do you think they are trapped somewhere?" I ask with some concern.  
  
"It could be." He answers, also worried about the prospect.  
  


ººº

 

There are five persons to greet us in a house next to the haunted one, three women and two men; they are the kid’s parents and Ms. Lockhart, aunt of one of the kids, whose father owns the property.

The presentations are quick, and some of the parents are giving us some information a little too quickly and incoherently, Mr. Lockhart is too nervous to give any useful information, just like one of the other the mothers ( _I think she said Mrs. Tailor? They introduced themselves in a hurry…_ ). Ashley, her sister, who seems to have a stronger character, suggests them a little brusquely to stay in the kitchen until they calm down. Her light brown hair and dark eyes are the only common trait she shares with her brother, but they have a very characteristic round shape.

She stays in front of us with a man and a woman, owners of the house we are in right now.

  
"Sorry about them, they both tend to panic easily," she seems a little annoyed, "and I don't think they would be of help to find my nephew and his friends if they can't say something coherent." I can see she is worried about the kids, but also annoyed with the other adults.  
  
"So you think they are really there?"  
  
"We didn't found any footprints leaving the house..." says the other woman, and as if she thinks it may sound ridiculous, she adds, "we don't think the house is plagued with ghost or anything, of course... but-" the man next to her interrupts:  
"...but there have been rumors about weird events in that house since I was young. I always lived around here, and that house has always been abandoned...  
I guess the children heard the story from us, and decided to sneak out during the afternoon, other kids told them they wouldn't dare..."  
  
"They probably planned it when they asked to stay here, knowing the house was just next to this one.  
My brother was thinking to remake the house almost entirely, and the kids wanted to see it before that happened."  
  
"You should have watched them more carefully. How is possible that you didn't notice when they left!?" The woman says to the man, but before the man could answer, Ashley barks at them "Cut th--" she cuts herself, I think she decides to say something less rude, she still sounds angry, "Leave your discussions for later, at this rate we won’t finish to tell them what's important." I can only guess this has been going on before we arrived, so she is probably in a bad mood.  
  
"Umh..." I say a little more awkwardly, "So... they disappeared during the night?"  
  
"That's what we suppose."  
  
"And why are you sure they still in the house?"  
  
"Mr. Bones is still in from of the house's door," seeing my confusion, she adds, "Oh, that's Bobby's dog, I think he would have tried to follow the kids if they have left, he is always following them."  
  
_I guess Luke will get something more then_ , I still don't quite understand what exactly he can do, but I have seen him _talking_ with animals before. For some time I thought it was a joke.  
  
"Anything else that could be of help?"

 

"Just rumors and old stories... A man once assured he got lost there after entering one night, and he went back to his home two nights later... But he had a drinking problem so no one took him seriously.

Others said there were noises at night.

It seems the original owner never lived there, he died shortly after the house was finished, that helped to build the legends and ghost stories."

  
"Okay, we should go and see the house then."  
  
"Okay then, I will give you a pair of lanterns, there is no light there."  
  
The house seems pretty normal from the outside, and other than the overgrown grass and weeds in the garden and a broken glass on the only part of a window not blinded with planks, there is nothing peculiar about the house. It’s a little disappointing for a house with a reputation of being haunted, it looks just abandoned.  
  
As she told us, an anxious dog is waiting, watching the door with longing eyes. He's medium size, when we go closer I can see some white hairs on his short black fur, especially around the muzzle, he's not a young dog. His tail is broken in two different places, making two right angles that give him a peculiar look.  
  
I offer my hand for him to sniff at it, and then he allows me to pet his head, and looks at me with sad eyes and scraping the door with one paw, insistently.  
I wait while Luke tries to _talk_ with him, _the dog sounds worried._ That’s obvious even if I can’t understand him.  
  
"He has been waiting here since very early this morning, when the kids sneaked from their room to come here.” Its afternoon already, he’s been here for some time… I see they brought him his water and food bowl. “He assures they are inside... But he couldn't find them when he entered, and they left him outside when they sneaked inside because he was too noisy. I think his cries this morning waked up the others."  
  
"Let's go inside to check. It could be a hidden passage or something..."  
  
"That's what I was thinking too."  
  
We enter, leaving the poor dog outside, but we thought that, just like the kid's parents, he won’t be of help if he is so nervous. I was expecting the wood floor to creak while we walk through the hallway, but I only hear our steps echoing in the empty house. The foot prints are now all over the place, and of different sizes, they probably belong to the parents and the police. Meaning they are now useless for us to follow the ones belonging to the kids.  
  
"Hello!?" I try, hoping, if they are just hiding from their parents, would make at least a sound if they hear an unknown voice. We wait for a few seconds, but there is no answer, except from the echo repeating the word slightly distorted.  
  
"It was worth to try." Luke says while we enter the first room. It's empty and dusty too, some cobwebs hang here and there, with spiders resting on some of them. The sunset light enters through some opens between the planks, but we need the lanterns anyway, it’s still too dark to see. The door closes itself when we enter, startling us, but we try and it opens easily.

“That scared me.”

As we search the rooms one by one the already scarce natural light starts to fade. Every door is closed and it closes again soon after we enter, but other than that, nothing else seems weird, they must have some kind of mechanism. _Still, is unnerving on an empty house..._ we look carefully at every wall and mark, pressing anything that looks suspicious, hoping to find a hidden switch or something. The rooms have no furniture, but we can recognize the bedrooms, living room, and the bathroom is the easiest to recognize.

One of the doors seems to have locked, when we try to get out, it takes us a while, but finally we can open it and come back to the hallway.

 

The air feels more humid now, it must be late.  


"Do you think the dog fell asleep?" I ask Luke when there is no more sunlight entering thought the small openings.

"I can't hear him scratching the door anymore. Perhaps we should try to look around the house." He says while he tries to open the door. Seeing he can't, I try to help him, but it doesn't open. We try charging at it, but it doesn't move.

As if it was just part of the wall instead of a door.

An just after that, we hear a sound coming from inside the house, I won’t lie, it scared us.

 

"Let's see." I whisper, and he nods.

 

When we open the first door... It's not empty anymore!

 

"Where did the furniture came from?"

 

It was clearly a bedroom, the things inside looked old and dusty, but there were some small footprints on the floor. The window was gone.

 

_This is creepy_. I think, but try to think what's really going on.

 

"This has to be some kind of trick." He says, but just like me, he is still nervous. No matter what logic says, this is quite scary.

 

"Let's go." We go back to the hallway, and I try again, "Hello!? Alex! Wendy! Bobby! Are you here!? Your parents had sent us to find you!"

 

We hear something again from one of the rooms. "They must be scared." He whispers at me, and I nod, answering also in a whisper "I guess they are still expecting to see a ghost... Let's hope they don't try to throw something at us."

 

"I used to be scared of ghosts when I was a kid." He murmurs while we walk closer to where the sound came from.

 

"Yeah, me too... remember when I told you about the haunted house? I almost punch one of my friends who tried to scare us there..."

 

"I can't imagine you trying to punch someone." He says while opening the door. The room also has furniture and no windows.

The children are clearly hidden inside a wardrobe; we hear a _shhh_ from there. Fortunately they don't react badly when we open the door.

 

"Who are you?" Asks the girl, she and other kid are holding some heavy books (as improvised weapons I can guess.)

 

"I'm Marina, and this is Luke. Your parents couldn't find you, so they asked us to come for you."

 

"We are no ghosts or monsters." Luke adds, "So please don't try to hit us with those books."

 

They exchange a look, but it doesn't take them too much to decide and get out of the wardrobe.

 

"But the house _is_ cursed! We are trapped now!"

 

"Calm down, we will find a way out. Are you all okay?"

 

They nod their heads.

 

We exchange some ideas quickly, and it doesn't take us too much to arrive to a conclusion.

 

"This place has to be underground."

 

"You have passed for similar situations before, right?" He nods, "So, the locked door... that room must be an elevator."

 

"Yes, the other doors closing are probably to distract, so while the door got locked, the room descended here."

 

"We should go back there and see how make it work again."

 

We ask the kids to come with us, they don’t argue and follow us.

“Why do you think the others didn’t get trapped when they came to find the kids?”

 

“Maybe it just works during the night; it was early when they sneaked out.”

 

“That should be… then that man from the story perhaps actually got trapped here and go out of pure luck. It’s actually quite dangerous…”

“Yes…I wonder how is it these kinds of mechanism always work for so long without maintenance.”

“Maybe we just have to wait inside the room until activates again, look at the time!”

While we wait we try to distract the children with some stories. We have brought some cookies so we eat them while we wait, they were hungry, and so they eat a lot. I guess they haven’t eaten since this morning.

We occasionally try to open the door, the kids fall asleep against a wall. Finally, the door is locked.  We wait a couple of minutes until we can open it again, and when we do, I can hear the dog at the dog.

“It worked.”

We wake up the kids, and when we cross the entrance door to get out Mr. Bones almost seems as if he is going to explode from happiness, all the kids had their faces covered in saliva when we reach their house. One of the parents opens the door and he tells the others we have found them, and then it follows the reencounter moment, their parents are so relived.

“Where had you been?”

“We were at the haunted house…”

We proceed to explain what happened, while someone brings us and the kids something to eat, dinner time passed some hours ago.

“Why in the world is there a copy of the house under it?”

“That’s a good question…”

“It’s to elaborate for a practical joker…”

We left the house happy have been of help, the parents didn’t stopped to thanks us until we left.

“Ms. Lockhart is stricter than your mom; she grounded them for two weeks.”

“And none of the parents contradicted her. The kids seemed fond of her anyway, and looked disappointed when she scolded them.”

...

In the end we never managed to know why the house had an underground copy, Mr. Lockhart tried to find out even after building a new one, but with no results.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was more an excuse to make them interact a little more. I think the next “chapter” would actually be a collection of “mini chapters” or scenes I don’t see how to add in other parts, and depending on how many cases I manage to write, there will be a couple more of chapters before starting with the part where Marina goes after Luke and Layton.  
> I feel I'm being more disorganised than usual with this story.


	4. Moments

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay!  
> As I commented, this is a collection of short scenes rather than a chapter, as I wanted to add them somewhere, but they are not enough for longer chapters.

We are chatting about some previous "cases" we solved on our own, and I am a little confused by his expression when I say "It was something related with the golden apple..." I don't quite understand his reaction, his eyes widen in surprise, "What happens?"

 

"Uh, no, nothing, I just remembered something too."

 

I try to think what could it be, and say "The golden apple is a common symbol, it appears in many legends and tales..."

 

Now he smiles, "Right... Sorry about my reaction, but it's something I promised to keep a secret."

 

"Oh, that's okay," but I am a little disappointed, "after all, you always say a gentleman must keep his promises, right?"

 

"Of course. If you ask me to keep a secret, you know I will."

 

 ºººº

 

 "So, did you solve the puzzle?" He asked smiling.

 

"Of course,” I take the paper he gave me before, unfold it and put it over the table, “This is the town." I say while showing him the little drawing I circled before, "What about you?”

But I think I don't need to ask. He loves puzzles more than me.

 Actually he is the one who made me be more interested in them.

 

"Here it is.” He says taking the puzzle from his pocket, “Rearranging the pieces, the hat turns into a boat."

 

"Next time I'll find something more complex for you."

 

“Well, I had a great mentor.”

 

“You always talk about him. I hope you can introduce him to me one day.”

 

We have started to exchange puzzles we have solved in the past, and show each other the answer the next day.

Though he already knows more puzzles than me.

Slowly we have started to see each other very often; we usually take our lunch together when we can.

 

ºººº

 

"But no one knew the city existed? How?" I am once again fascinated with one of his stories.

I had to admit I envy him a little.

 

"I told you, the train changed rails inside a dark tunnel, not all wagons went there..." He repeats a little confused.

 

"Yes, I understand that... But... What I mean... it's still odd... the town was not in any map?"

 

"Mmmm...no... I don’t think so?"

 

"But...  what I find odd is…They didn't pay taxes and stuff?"

 

He blinks twice before asking, confused:

 

"What?"

 

"Yeah, I mean...A tax collector never appeared before to investigate? Or... How did they pay their bills to the electric company?"

 

"Uh... I never thought about it... and I never asked..." He looks confused and pensive.

 

I chuckle, "Sorry, I didn't mean to ruin the story..."

 

"I just never thought about it before..."

 

ºººº

"So, what is your conclusion? Who had been stealing the rings?" I ask him.

 

A week ago, I gave him all the details I could remember from a small mystery I solved with friends as a kid, to see if he was able to find the answer.

 

"Well, given all the clues you gave me, an adult couldn't have entered...”

 

He makes a dramatic pause.

 

“So… Do you think the kid did it?”

 

He smiles, ”No, the kid who had them in their room couldn't have hid them there...because you told me he had arachnophobia."

 

I smile, I’m sure he solved everything but is saying things slowly. "Then...?"

 

"Then... The one who stole the rings did know nothing about their value… he steal even cheap ones…knowing where you lived…” He stops to make this pose he does when he is making a deduction, I think he is imitating his mentor again. “…it was a raccoon!"

 

"You did it great!” I clap for his little act too. I had to admit I find it charming. “We left another ring and waited until he took it and followed him… Because no one believed us."

 

"I thought birds where the ones who liked shiny stuff."

 

“I bet you could have asked him why he collected the rings…”

 

“Hey, It’s not always so easy to get a clear answer from an animal.”

 

“I still don’t understand completely how it works…”

 

“I guess it’s not easy to imagine how it is…”

 

ºººº

 The faint light barely illuminates the statues, "Who could have thought there was a place like this hidden in the middle of this city?"

 

"It's not the first hidden place we found... They are more common than you could imagine..."

 

"Yeah, that's true... I guess people just don’t look for them.”

 

“Yes… most people won’t be interested in looking for these things… or they would be found more often"

 

“That’s why I’m glad to have met someone else who likes it and is whiling to accompany me.” I say while I watch a group of statues.

 

“I could say the same.” He answers.

 

I keep admiring the statues, I wonder if they are representing real people or legendary figures… We could look for more information later.

There is a dark corner with more statues, so I ask Luke to come closer with the lantern (mine doesn’t work after falling...), but my heart almost stops when one of the statues moves (and Luke almost drops his lantern too.)

 

"Excuse moi, but estoy muito lost." It’s just a man, gosh. He is dressed as if he were on a safari.

 

_But how in the world did he get here before us?_

_We should have seen him._

 

"Polo?!" Luke asks, sounding very confused.

 

_Does he know this man?_

 

We give him some directions, and he thanks us with this weird mix of languages. After that, I look at Luke very confused, I don’t need to ask him who he was before he shrugged and told me this man before, as a kid, he is always lost and speaking a strange blend of various languages.

I tell him that's more unusual than the hidden places, and he has to agree.

 

That was an unusual encounter.

 

"I guess I sort of got used to it and stopped wondering about him...

And he is not the only one I have met."

 

" I guess you should start a list with unsolved mysteries and add his name."

 

"Now that you mention it, I have other names to write on it."

 

ºººº

 

"You look a lot like your mum." I say to him.

It's clear he doesn't need me to say it, I can guess he has heard it before, but I can't help it after seeing an old photo of her mum as a kid in the hallway, and it looks like him with a dress.

 

"Yeah, I looked even more like her when I was a kid."

 

We were going to his room, and I just met his parents after he invited me invited for lunch. I thought the older man was his grandpa, but it was the butler.

 

"My mum will insist in meeting you too, so expect an invitation one of these days."

 

"Do you look like her too?"

 

"No, but I look a lot like my oldest aunt, If you look old photos of her you could say it's me with short hair... Hey, did you ever think wearing a beard like your father?"

 

"I can't say the idea never crossed my mind, but I think it would look weird on me."

 

ºººº

 

I can imagine others would say we are a weird couple, and this wouldn't be their ideal date, but for us it was great.

 

We have been friends for more than a year now, and I thought I was going to be the one asking him for a date.

He asked me first, when I was about to ask him.

 

I can't say things had changed too much, and technically, this is not our first date, but it's our first adventure as a couple.

 

I guess it's silly, but it kind of sounds nice to do something as a couple.

 

"So here is the first puzzle today." He says looking a sliding mechanism at the door-or what we suppose is the door- it’s really beautiful.

 

"We have to change the places between the red and blue sphere." I say while touching the blue sphere, both have blossoms of different flowers carved on them, thought I don’t know their name. I’m starting to think we should get a camera to add pictures to our journal.

Yes, we have started to write a sort of diary with our cases, it could always we useful in the future, if we encounter similar things. We take turns to take notes.

 

It takes us some time and patience, but we finally rearrange the pieces to move them. Silently, the spheres turn around; now showing the flowers and two different parts starts to move into different directions, the blue flower goes to the right, and the red one to the left. We take note of that in case it’s a clue for puzzles inside.

 

"We were right!

Oh, look, the rearranged pieces also form some simbols now."

 

The leaves and branches of the flowers have a very peculiar disposition.

 

"Perhaps they will be useful later." He writes them down on the notebook.

 

I decide take his hand before entering.

 

"Shall we?"

 

"Of course. Let's discover whose behind the strange appearances."

 

ºººº

 

I am visiting Luke's house again, and there is a surprise visitor.

 

I thought this woman was an older sister or aunt first, but it was just an old friend, the one he told me about in his stories.

 

"Emmy Altava, nice to meet you."

 

"Marina Cyan. Nice to meet you."

 

We talk during lunch, and we finish Luke asks her what martial art she recommends, she tells him karate has always been useful to her.

 

"You should join him too."

 

"Me?" I ask surprised when I see she is looking at me.

 

"Of course! It can always be useful." She takes a defensive posture and it seems she is about to show me something "For example-"

 

"Emmy!" Says worried Mrs. Triton, and her husband adds:

 

"Please demonstrate her your abilities in the garden, just in case..." He trails of.

 

She puts her feet on the ground again and scratches her head "Uh, right, I don't want to break anything..."

 

Whatever she was exceptional or not, her demonstration convinced me.

 

ºººº

 

“We should rest for today.” I tell him after our practice.

 

We have really take Emmy’s suggestion. And after hearing how sometime situations could got dangerous, it seemed like a prudent idea. Hopefully we will never need to use it.

 

“Yes, I’m tired too.” He say seating next to me.

Though we have started to practice different self defense techniques, you couldn’t call it, formally, martial arts, as we were not exactly following any school or stile.

 

“We could go to get some ice cream after this.”

 

“That’s a nice idea.”

 

ºººº

 "Hello, Ms. Cyan."

 

"Welcome, Luke. Marina has told me a lot about you."

 

"Only good things don't worry." I tease him.

 

He just laughs.

 

As anyone could imagine, y mother insisted in meeting him when we started dating, though it takes us some time to find a date.

 

It's not that she doesn't trust my judgment (I guess...) But I couldn't avoid being a little worried that she would embarrass me.

 

"Oh, your aunts are coming for dinner too." She adds, and looks at him "They want to meet you too."

 

"Prepare yourself for an interrogatory." I whisper to Luke almost apologetically, "my aunts have always been a little protective with me..."

 

"Don't worry..."

 

Fortunately he gave them a good impression.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally mentioned Marina’s family, not much of an introduction, but I hope I can flesh them out a little bit more in the future.  
> Perhaps these were uneventful, but I wanted to add a little about their lives.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading.  
> This is purely made up, as you can imagine, because Marina must have just around 15 minutes of screen time. But as they both like to solve mysteries, I guessed they could have met solving one.  
> I want to try and write at least a simple mystery for them to solve together in the next chapter. Also I’ll try to think a last name for her and to guess what they could be studying.  
> Depending on how much I can write, there will be a third chapter with short scenes or more short chapters, I will see how much I complete the drafts I have. And one or two final chapters about Marina looking for Luke and finding him.  
> That's the plan at least, let's see how it goes.


End file.
